Kekuatan - Air Pirate Fanatics

I have been working on this, off and on, for a couple of weeks. I wanted to bring to the game an air-based nation; but one that was a bit strange. Fanatics of all kind worry and concern me, but pique my curiosity at the same time. Human beings have this horrifying ability to believe in something with an unlimited depth of passion and fervor even if there is no proof they are right, and yes, even if what they believe runs counter to logic and nature.

The world of Triunia strikes me as just the place for science fanatics. In a world where magic runs hand-in-hand with technology, someone who completely eschews magic would be seen as weird at best, or a dangerous fanatic at worst. So was born the nation of Kekuatan, a nation of airborne pirates who use technology that defies the logic of their very world. The nation was born of the madman/scientist/inventor Robert Storm.

Here is my vision of Kekuatan, preceded by a musing of mine on Triunian science.

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Note on the place of science of Triunia
From the beginning of recorded history on Triunia, magic has been the force that propelled science. Even early on the Triunian ancestors discovered that Un, Ni, and Ia together created an amazing burst of power. When combined inside a reactor they provide near-unlimited power; despite being used from antiquity however, no one is quite sure how the power is created. Called Unniian Reactors, these devices are moderately expensive to create, but last for centuries. As such their use is widespread, and everyone from princes to paupers utilize them in their everyday life. While war wasn't unknown amongst the nations of Triunia, they were often fought over ideological difference than a need for resources. In the past, attempts were made to create a power source that did not require the rare resources, but all efforts fell well short of the fantastical sustained power of Un, Ni, and Ia.

Brief Biography of Robert Storm
Ever since he was a young boy in a suburb of Deeson, the capital of Kharogo, Robert Storm was considered to be just a bit odd. While other young brilliant children would cobble together tech using Un, Ni, and Ia as a power source, young Robert Storm would be found tinkering with non-magical materials in novel ways to reach the same ends. Like all young children who refuse to do what is considered "normal" Robert Storm was constantly mocked by his peers. He quickly learned to keep his tinkering a secret, and outwardly portrayed a zeal for creating novel magitech devices. At the age of 18 he graduated college and applied for a position in the Ministry of Defense, where he was almost immediately hired. He started in the Personal Weapons Systems division where he began to create arms for the Kharogo's military. He saw his opportunity to return to his boyhood dreams of magic-less technologies, and his first creation was a hand-held device that used a tensioned steel rod to launch a bolt of wood at high speeds with hardly a whisper. His creation was seen as barbaric by his fellow scientists; while most magitech weapons killed relatively cleanly, his devices killed in a messy and traumatic fashion. His fellows may have seen him as a monster, but the heads behind the Special Forces division saw a place for Professor Storm's ideas. In the middle of the night, he was transferred to an isolated weapons laboratory in the mountains and was given an immense budget to develop his ideas away from the public eye.

The Shadow Wars Begin, and a New Nation is Born.
When The Gloom invaded from the Realm of Shadow, Triunia as a whole was caught off guard. A brief war had just ended between two of the major nations, and most of the world were looking forward to a brief period of peace and prosperity. The small nation of Kharogo had different plans, and had been secretly building up their forces. Their intent was to use these forces to expand their territories in the brief lull, but like all other Triunians they found themselves scrambling to preserve their very lives. The initial assault of the Gloom shattered the defenses of the Kharogoians and struck their Special Forces weapons laboratory hard. Many lives were lost but the brilliant and eccentric scientist Robert Storm managed to use some of his oft-ridiculed designs, and a few lab assistants, to fight off the attackers.

While he survived unscathed physically, Professor Storm was forever changed by his experience. The designs that drove off the Gloom attackers were his common tech; none of it was powered by any sort of magic at all. Where the focused beams of magical energy were harmlessly absorbed or deflected by the attackers, simple steel hammers easily stove in their skulls. In a wild snap of sanity Robert Storm re-ignited his conviction that using Un, Ni, and Ia was a crutch. His firm belief was that Triunian civilization as a whole relied too much on magic, and the only way for civilization to survive would be to abandon them completely and embrace what he saw as pure science. While the ruins of the laboratory smoldered behind him, he loudly proclaimed that he would develop a power source that was independent of the rare minerals. His allies and fellow scientists called him insane for this idea, and begged that he throw his avant-garde plan aside and do everything he could to help defend Triunia from the Gloom.

Their wishes fell upon deaf ears. Professor Storm and his assistants turned their weapons on the rest of the scientists, slaughtering them in minutes. The fanatics gathered the gear and supplies that had survived the Gloom attack, set the facility's Unniian reactor to overload, and vanished into the night. The resulting explosion destroyed everything within a few miles of the facility. The outside world had no idea of what happened at the facility; when Kharogo's scouts arrived on the scene, they assumed the Gloom had wiped out the facility entirely. The Kharogo government spun the attack to their public as the uncalled for and wanton destruction of a medical research facility. The nation united under the banner of tragedy, and Kharogo entered the Shadow War.

Twenty years after the incident, vague reports of a band of pirates began to circulate. The survivors reported that pirates were uncommonly brutal; and even stranger was that they battled in airships which used no magitech at all. The government dismissed these claims as exaggerated nonsense by panicked civilians and did not pursue them further. As time passed these attacks became more and more brutal, and a wide area of the mountainous regions of Kharogo was declared off limits to all travel. The growing Shadow War took the majority of the attention of the Kharogo government, leaving the pirates free to expand.

The war continued to rage until the Gloom surrounded Deeson. The commanders of the Gloom demanded the surrender of the nation; the choice offered was either surrender and die quickly, or fight and die in long, drawn out pain. Before the government could reach a decision, chaos erupted in the Gloom's forces. Massive explosions went off sending white-hot metal shrapnel ripping through the infantry. Airships roared up from the hills surrounding the city while firing explosive bits of metal into the Gloom army. As their sensors were attuned to the signature of Unniian reactors, the Gloom were caught totally unawares and the pirates were able to destroy the Gloom with minimal losses. The city greeted their saviors with joyous exultation, and the victorious forces of the pirates hovered over the city. A loudspeaker on the largest airship, the Promethean crackled to life and the voice of Professor Storm boomed over the city. A transcript of the beginning of his speech survives:

"Citizens of Kharogo! I am Professor Robert Storm. Twenty-five years ago the Gloom attacked my science outpost and senselessly slaughtered almost all my friends. With raw ingenuity and dedication, my loyal followers and I managed to survive and grow in power. Too long have you lived under the oppression of the so-called science of Un, Ni, and Ia! True, magitech weapons have dealt impressive blows against the Gloom; but see how my weapons devastate them with ease! Dissolve your government, and join us! With the backbone of industry that you can provide, and the technology I will give you, we will crush all that oppose us! Even the Gloom will tremble at our feet!"

With that speech, the nation of Kharogo turned itself over to Professor Storm, and the nation of Kekuatan was born.

Kekuatan's Early Years and Description
While his forces secured the city and mopped up the remaining Gloom forces, Professor Storm debuted the technology that he claimed would turn the very tide of the war. His technology got rid of the Unniian reactors entirely, replacing them with a proprietary power source of his own called the StormHeart. These StormHeart devices were half the size of a common Unniian reactor and were completely sealed off; the only thing marring the surface were two prongs that provide power to whatever is connected to them. StormHearts were compatible with all devices previously powered by Unniian reactors. Only Professor Storm knew where the StormHearts were manufactured; they were made in fully automated factories in complete and utter secrecy. He claimed that the secrecy surrounding these devices was to prevent the Gloom and Kekuatans inevitable Triunian enemies from developing countermeasures. The weaponry that Professor Storm introduced was low-tech; mostly black powder projectile weapons. The projectiles developed by Professor Storm explode upon contact. These projectiles and weapons were also produced in the same extreme secrecy and locations as the StormHearts.

In the years that followed the coup of Robert Storm, Kekuatan drastically changed. The democratic government was dissolved and became a dictatorship with Robert Storm at the helm. The city of Deeson was torn down for raw materials, and the nation quickly converted to a nomadic way of life. Massive flotillas of airships were created from the very bones of the cities and allowed the population to patrol the nation, fighting the Gloom where they could. These piratical flotillas caused the borders of Kekuatan to constantly shift as they raided nearby nations for materials.

Despite this sudden and complete separation of their technology from Un, Ni, and Ia, Kekuatan immediately started to hoard the rare minerals. They sent marauders to hijack convoys, and used what economic resources they had to purchase surplus from other nations. The massive surplus that Kekuatan formed were placed in hidden warehouses, deep in the mountains. No one knows why they are stockpiling these materials.

The Death of Robert Storm, and the Current State of Kekuatan
Three hundred years after the Shadow War began a tentative end was finally reached. Kekuatan managed to survive the war but the people have become a savage nomadic race of pirates that pillage their neighbors to survive. Professor Storm himself gave up his dictatorship on his 100th birthday; he named his young protege to be his successor and left the nation of Kekuatan to live out the rest of his days in an unknown location. The automated factories that Professor Storm set up to create StormHearts are still in operation somewhere deep in the mountains of Kekuatan's land. The location of these factories is known only to Professor Storm's successor, who is always a singular person and always inherits command of the largest airship, the Promethean. The nation has not advanced much technologically in the 300 years of war. Most of the ranged weapons are brutal and barbaric projectiles, and most melee weapons are cruelly barbed and sharpened swords. Since the original flotillas were created, reportedly no new ships have been made; the ships are tough and well-built enough to last for centuries. StormHearts burn out after around two months of operation, so the airship flotillas do have to resupply regularly from the stockpile aboard the Promethean. As a rule Kekuatanian flotillas despise all users of Unniian reactors and often leave their targets, be they airship or city, as a desecrated barren waste. While Kekuatan's weapons are very effective against the Gloom, the nomadic nation cannot seem to organize well enough to bring their true power to bear.